S.C.I.E.N.C.E. - Incubus > Reviews > Favorite Things

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	A huge range of sound
Disadvantages:	???

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

S.C.I.E.N.C.E, or Science for ease, was released in 1997 and is the second thing to be released by the boys. It's an amazing album which demonstrates the many sides of Incubus's talents. This, however, makes it incredibly hard to categorise the band into a particular genre of sound. Their influences appear very widespread, and range from the funk sound of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers bass lines, to huge metal riffs, mixed up with a bit of rap, maybe a small amount of hip-hop and some good sampling. Vocally, in my opinion, the album is highly individual due to the unusual voice of Brandond Boyd, singer with the band. What more could anyone want from a band?

The name is very fitting for the album with songs such as 'Nebula' and 'Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)', and is a theme threaded throughout the tracks - it's always nice to know that someone put some thought into the title of an album.

There are several outstanding tracks on the album which deserve a mention.
Firstly, 'Favorite Things' - which is a track filled with monster riffs, bizarre effects and sampling, all coupled with a highly memorable melody and catchy chorus. 'Deep Inside' is more of a funk number with some fantastic funk bass lines playing throughout, and provides a definite Chilli's influence to the album, with the exception of the occasional few bars of insanely heavy metal. 'Nebula' is a very unique track with a seemingly calm intro full of samples which leads into a mad metal frenzy in the chorus, and progresses to a rapid melody line which provides a moving feeling throughout the track.

The most well known track on the album has to be 'A Certain Shade of Green', as this has to be the most played Incubus song at clubs. If you've heard this track it'll certainly stay in your head due to it's different but catchy intro, followed by a strangely melodic song - only to be interrupted once again by the amazing riffs. However, my favourite track on the album has to be track 9, 'Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)'. It's perhaps the most relaxed song on the album with a funk bass line, tuneful riffs and a gorgeous vocal melody. The thing that really makes this song has to be the instrumental that appears towards the end of the track, which encorporates the musical ideas from earlier, along with some relaxed percussion and a fantastic saxophone solo.

As well as those tracks I've already mentioned, some people will be slightly upset at a couple of ommissions I've made - namely 'Redefine' and 'New Skin'. These are both excellent tracks, but in my opinion are not the best on this album, so sorry to those of you out there that favour these more established Incubus tracks.

All in all, S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is a fantastic album, full of variety and new sounds. It is a definite must for anyone sick of the conformity adopted by Nu-Metal bands, or for anyone who simply wants a good metal album to listen to...